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Abstract

This article was written by Roderick Ogley shortly after the appearance of Hedley Bull's seminal article in World Politics but had remained unpublished by the author up until now. To some it may seem unnecessary and wearisome to return to the material and content of the "Great Debate". Yet, the publication of the article (in a slightly revised form) in this Special Issue is timely and of value as it does touch upon a number of important points concerning approaches to the study of international relations. Indeed, the most interesting and remarkable aspect of the essay is that, though written somefourteen years ago, it still seems fresh and applicable to the study of international relations - which may be its strongest comment on the state of the discipline.

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References

Hedley Bull , "International Theory: the Case for the Classical Approach", World Politics (Vol. X No.2, 1966), pp. 361-378.

K. Knorr and J. Rosenau (eds.), Contending Approaches to International Politics (Princeton, NJ.: Princetown University Press, 1966). Bull's article appears among these essays (pp. 20-38) and subsequent references are to the article as it appeared in this volume.

H. Bull, loc. cit., p.38.

F.H. Hinsley , Power and the Pursuit of Peace (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967).

H. Bull, loc. cit., p. 20.

Ibid., p. 26.

Ibid., p. 27.

Ibid., p. 26.

Ibid., p. 30.

10.

Ibid., p. 31.

11.

Ibid., p. 36.

12.

Ibid., p. 27.

13.

N. Machiavelli , The Prince (Everyman Edition, 1958), Chapter 17, p. 92.

14.

E.H. Carr , Twenty Years' Crisis (London: Macmillan , 1962), p. 107.

15.

M. Wight , "The Balance of Power", in H. Butterfield and M. Wight (eds.), Diplomatic Investigations (London: Allen & Unwin, 1966), p. 174.

16.

H.J. Morgenthau , Politics Among Nations (London: Alfred Knopf & Sons, Fourth Edition, 1967), p. 25.

17.

I.L. Claude , "Introduction to issue on the place of theory in the conduct and study of international relations", Journal of Conflict Resolution (Vol. 4, No. 3, 1960), pp. 263-265.

18.

H. Bull, loc. cit., p. 30.

19.

There is, however, one respect in which international relations is at a disadvantage as compared with psychology. The number of subject (i.e. states) is so small that the given number of variables is that much less manageable, just as the scope for scientific advances in psychology would be that much smaller on an isolated island with a population of about 150. For any set of n variables deemed significant, it would be that much more difficult to isolate the effect of one, by holding the other (n - I) variables constant, because it would be more difficult to find a significant number of instances whose values for the (n - 1) variables were comparable.

20.

R. Ogley , "Towards a Theory of International Organisation", International Relations (October 1969), p. 599.

21.

Charles Osgood's proposals for Graduates Reciprocation in Tension reduction (GRIT) are in. part advocated on such grounds, namely that the advantage they offer of eliciting information about how the other party responds outweighs the conceivable strategic disadvantage of the initial disarmament unilaterally undertaken. See Charles Osgood, Graduated Reciprocation in Tension (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1963).

22.

H. Bull, loc. cit., p. 35.

23.

Ibid., p. 27. See also above at Reference number 7.

24.

Morton A. Kaplan , "The New Great Debate: Traditionalists versus Science in International Relations", in K. Knorr and J. Rosenau , op. cit, pp. 39-61.

25.

Thomas Hobbes , Leviathan , Michael Oakeshott (ed.) (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1946). See Oakeshott's introduction to the edition.

26.

H. Bull, loc. cit., p. 27.

International Relations: Poetry,Prescription or Science?

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